Key arrangements for chord organs



Oct. 9, 1962 T. 5. Lo DUCA 3,057,245

KEY ARRANGEMENTS FOR CHORD ORGANS Filed April 10, 1961 INVENTOR. Fvamas .9. 400040 ggiM d Q/XM A77" Ole/YE Y tat This invention relates to improvements in key arrange ments for chord organs, and more particularly to a novel chord key arrangement employing keys of conventional organ key dimensions.

An object of the invention is to provide a device of the type having chord keys of conventional size resulting in an ease and facility of playing not found with chord buttons of the type now in use.

Another object of the invention is to provide a unique arrangement of the several chord progressions adjacent the base chord keys.

Other and further objects of the invention will appear as the description proceeds, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a chord organ keyboard embodying the invention.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary plan view of the keyboard showing the chord section.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional View taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 2.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, the numeral refers to a chord organ having a bank of treble keys on the right hand as at 11, and a chord assembly of keys at 12 comprising a plurality of laterally spaced pre-set bass keys 13. It will be observed that the bass keys are arranged from the right as follows: A, D, G, C, F and B flat. Each bass key 13 has related pre-set keys around it, as, for instance, the bass key A has, immediately to the right thereof, a preset key marked A Major, and to the left thereof, a preset key marked A Minor. Immediately above the bass key A to the left is the key marked A and immediately to the right thereof is the key marked A diminished.

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It will be apparent that the peculiar arrangement of these keys and the size of these keys being equal to that of the conventional piano or organ, will effect a great facility in playing inasmuch as after very little practice the player becomes accustomed to the adjoining keys around each bass key 13.

It will be understood that the device is capable of many modifications in construction and design, without departing from the spirit of the invention, within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a chord organ, a chord keyboard comprised of two banks of keys, a plurality of spaced preset bass chord keys in the lower bank, a major preset chord key flanking each bass key on one side, and a minor preset chord key flanking each bass key on the other side.

2. In a chord organ, a chord keyboard comprised of two banks spaced relatively vertically with the upper bank set back to clear the lower bank, a plurality of spaced preset bass chord keys in the lower bank, a major preset chord key flanking each bass key on one side, a minor preset chord key flanking each bass key on the other side, a related diminished preset chord key in the upper bank adjacent said bass key, and a related seventh preset chord key in the upper bank adjacent said related bass key.

References Cited in the file of this patent FOREIGN PATENTS 614,940 France Dec. 27, 1926 451,142 Germany Sept. 29, 1927 323,575 Great Britain Jan. 9, 1930 OTHER REFERENCES Popular Science Article, volume 168, No. 3, March 1956, pages -151. 

